Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Tara Sonenshine will travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey November 27-December 1, 2012.

In Sarajevo, Under Secretary Sonenshine will meet with LGBT community activists, discuss women’s empowerment with NGO leaders, and talk about U.S. foreign policy with media representatives. The Under Secretary will also meet with Youth Leadership Program students who recently returned from four weeks in the United States. At the U.S. Embassy, the Under Secretary will dedicate two rooms in honor of Colonel Samuel Nelson Drew and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Kruzel, both of whom perished in Bosnia in 1995 while working for peace.

In Ankara, Under Secretary Sonenshine will visit a Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program product fair, discuss U.S.-Turkey partnerships in education at the Ministry of Education and English language program leaders in Turkey, and explore women’s empowerment issues with NGO leaders. At Bilkent University, she will speak with students on the topic of The Freedom to Communicate and Connect: Public Diplomacy in the 21st Century. She will also meet with her counterpart at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Istanbul, the Under Secretary will meet students and teachers at the Tohum Autism Foundation, discuss multiculturalism in Turkey with leaders of the Anatolian Cultural Foundation, and explore the impact of U.S.-Turkey professional exchange programs with alumni. Her trip concludes with a discussion of freedom of expression with senior journalists and academics.